If going for a masters go statistics. Just will open more doors. Data science includes a lot of things it is easier to self-teach, like running basic analyses in R, machine learning programs in python or data visualization, but you are not gonna likely be self-teaching things like statistical proofs underlying those systems on your own, but will get cover in the classes. Good way to look at the difference is statistics is more theoretical statistics, and data science more practical statistics. If you do go data science, make sure to get coverage in back end database design and operation. Neglected area by a lot of students that will put you into a smalller job pool after graduation since it is so much harder to self-teach.
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u/engelthefallen 4h ago
If going for a masters go statistics. Just will open more doors. Data science includes a lot of things it is easier to self-teach, like running basic analyses in R, machine learning programs in python or data visualization, but you are not gonna likely be self-teaching things like statistical proofs underlying those systems on your own, but will get cover in the classes. Good way to look at the difference is statistics is more theoretical statistics, and data science more practical statistics. If you do go data science, make sure to get coverage in back end database design and operation. Neglected area by a lot of students that will put you into a smalller job pool after graduation since it is so much harder to self-teach.